Martinez v. Delta Brands, Inc.

• Decision Date: 06 November 1974
• Docket Number: No. B--4634,B--4634
• Citation: 515 S.W.2d 263
• Parties: Juan Jose MARTINEZ, Petitioner, v. DELTA BRANDS, INC., Respondent.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 263

515 S.W.2d 263

Juan Jose MARTINEZ, Petitioner, v. DELTA BRANDS, INC., Respondent.

No. B--4634.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Nov. 6, 1974.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 4, 1974.

Feldman, O'Donnell & Neil, Larry Feldman, Dallas, for petitioner.

Weil & Craig, Christopher M. Weil and Robert A. Bernstein, Dallas, for respondent.

GREENHILL, Chief Justice.

Juan Jose Martinez was employed as a welder by Delta Brands, Incorporated. Delta Brands did not carry workmen's compensation insurance. In an industrial accident, a big toe of Martinez was smashed and broken into many pieces. In his suit against Delta Brands, Martinez alleged, among other things, that Delta Brands failed to furnish adequate equipment with which to work. ¹ The jury agreed with the contention of Martinez. Judgment was entered for Martinez on the jury's verdict. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court and rendered judgment that Martinez take nothing because that court was of the view that there was no evidence to support the jury's findings that Delta Brands failed to provide Martinez with adequate equipment, that this was negligence and a proximate cause of the injury. Tex.Civ.App., 512 S.W.2d 76. We disagree. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals. The cause will be remanded to that court for it to pass upon factual points raised in that court which are not within the jurisdiction of this court.

When a party asserts that there is no evidence to support jury findings, we must review the evidence in its most favorable light, considering only the evidence and inferences which support the findings, and rejecting the evidence and inferences contrary to the findings. Butler v. Hanson, 455 S.W.2d 942 (Tex.1970); Langlotz v. Citizens Fidelity Insurance Company, 505 S.W.2d 249 (Tex.1974). It would be our duty to affirm the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals if the evidence offered to show negligence were proven to be no more than a scintilla of proof. Thus if the evidence created nothing more than a mere surmise or suspicion of the existence of negligence, such evidence would be, in legal effect, no evidence. Joske v. Irvine, 91 Tex. 574, 44 S.W. 1059 (1898). But if negligence may be reasonably inferred from direct evidence, then there is more than a scintilla of evidence. Calvert, 'No Evidence' and 'Insufficient Evidence' Points of Error, 38 Texas Law Review 361, 363 (1960).

A leading case on the duty of the employer to furnish equipment adequate to enable an employee safely to do a job is Currie v. Missouri, Kansas & Texas Ry. Co., 101 Tex. 478, 108 S.W. 1167 (1908). There an employee was injured while operating a railroad turntable. The plaintiff contended that the turntable was either in a state of negligent disrepair or was of a defective design. The railroad contended, as does Delta Brands here, that there was no evidence of its negligence. This court disagreed. In so holding, the court held that there was sufficient evidence of negligence on the part of the employer to raise the issue for the jury to pass upon. The opinion states,

'The duty of the master is at all times to exercise ordinary care to furnish for the use of the servant safe and suitable machinery and appliances with which the servant is to do his work. Whether or not this duty has been performed must be determined by considering that which has been furnished in connection with the uses to which the servant at the time in question is expected to put it. A piece of machinery wholly suitable and adequate to the purposes for which it is used at one time may be inadequate for other uses at different times; and, when the latter condition exists, the machinery may well be said to be improperly constructed, defective, or dangerous.'

This court also held in Missouri, Kansas & Texas Ry. Co. v. Hannig, 91 Tex. 347, ...